The European Origins of American Muslim Civil Rights: A Transatlantic Tale.

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Wed 12 Mar 2014 11.00 - 13.00

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2014-03-12 11:002014-03-12 13:00Europe/ParisThe European Origins of American Muslim Civil Rights: A Transatlantic Tale.

European ideas about religious tolerance toward Muslims germinated in the early modern period, where they evolved into precedents for government-backed toleration that arrived in North America in the seventeenth century. On both sides of the Atlantic, the proponents of religious toleration for Muslims were persecuted and marginalized individuals, but these then unusual ideas did not die with them. How did their vision surivive, and finally influence key American politicians, such as Thomas Jefferson and others, to insist upon a universal religious liberty and civil rights for Muslims in the nascent United States? Why is this transatlantic tale one historians have ignored until now - and why might it be helpful to renew consideration of the origin of these ideas today on both sides of the Atlantic?

European ideas about religious tolerance toward Muslims germinated in the early modern period, where they evolved into precedents for government-backed toleration that arrived in North America in the seventeenth century. On both sides of the Atlantic, the proponents of religious toleration for Muslims were persecuted and marginalized individuals, but these then unusual ideas did not die with them. How did their vision surivive, and finally influence key American politicians, such as Thomas Jefferson and others, to insist upon a universal religious liberty and civil rights for Muslims in the nascent United States? Why is this transatlantic tale one historians have ignored until now - and why might it be helpful to renew consideration of the origin of these ideas today on both sides of the Atlantic?